office



51m@ 9, lSQL ROOHNG.

(No Model.)

UNITED V'STATES GEORGE s. LEE, or DENVER, ooLoRADo.

PATENT OFFICE.

RooFlNe.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 453,979, dated June 9, 1891.

Application tiled May 14,1890. Serial No. 351,723. (No specimens.)

To a/ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that LGEORGE S. LEE, a citizen of the United States, 'residing at Denver,

" in the county of Arapahoe arid State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roofing; and Ido hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and

roong material in which a sheet, strip,lor

Aweb of cloth, felt, jute, paper, ortwo or more sheets, webs, or strips of one or different ma-` terials constitute a backing to' receive and hold an asphaltic or ethersuitahlplastic composition, upon which is spread and in which composition is `embedded a granular surface, covering, or coating adapted and designed to serve as a tread or wearing surface as well as aprotective facing.

The object ot' the present invention is to produce a novel style or form of roofing material having the above-named characteristics, but which will' be superior in point of durability, safety, and general adaptability to the purposes-for which such material as roofing-sheets are intended than an'y'rooiing heretoforein use. In the manufacture heretofore of `roofing material of. the class to which' this invention belongs it has been customary 1z0-employ various kinds of backing, such as papencloth, and the like, and to coat or saturate the same with tar or Lasphaltum compounds, serving to hold and retain the'granular surfacing material. The surfacing or facing material commonly employed has been silicious sand`orfine gravel; buty it has been proposed to employ the slag from .iron furnaces. I have discovered, however, that a very superior surface or facing may be produced by the use of the peculiar quality of slag which results from thereduction of gold, silver,- copper', and lead ores, the same being specially adapted forroofin g purposes, aswell .l as for floor-coverings, stair-pads, wall-linings, .and the various other applications to which a flexible, portable, durable, and non{con ducting web or sheet is generally adapted.

`My invention accordingly consists, broadly,

in the production, as a new article of manufacture, of a roongsheet, web, or strip comprising a backing -f any suitable material,

saturated with an asphaltic composition and a surface coating of granular slag or refuse from gold, silver-,'copper, or l'cad reduction works'. The slag which I employ for this purpose is known at smelting and reduction works as iron slagffrom the large percentage ot iron which it contains, and is an cnltirely and essentially different kind ot' ma-v pearance, and is characterized by a spongy` or porous texture, for which reason, as well to be mechanically combined with a plastic as for others, it is peculiarly `fitted and adapted composition, such as asphaltum, which enters the pores of the slag and causes a firm adhesion, which resists to an extraordinary degree Wear and abrasion. Vater, which is contained in all rock, gravel, sand, and other ma: terials heretofore employed, and which oper- -ates against the perfect combination of asphalt,is entirely absent from the iron slag, and hence this material'has a peculiar aiiinity for asphaltic compounds, andabsorbs the Same into its pores While it repels water or moisture.

In the production or -manufacture of the roofingl useas a backing or web for the reception of and impregnation with the liquid asphaltum or asphaltic com position any suitable material, such as cotton or linen duck,

liquid or semi-liquid asphaltic coating, to

which the slag adheresand inwhich it becomes embedded and incorporated. The roofing is then fed along upon a table; upon which are mounted at .suitable intervals ypressurerolls, which press the granular slag into the ICO asphalt. The surplus is remo-ved by brushing or scraping and the material finally woundupon a reel or upon rolls and cut into snitable lengths for sale, transportation, and con- The apparatus employed in the manufac` ture of the rooting is simple but effective in 1 its structure' andoperation, and in this eon nection does not require specific description. A fuller explanation will be given in anotherapplication to bey filed hereinafter.

. In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of an apparatus for the production of the roong. Fig.

2 is a sectional view of a piece or sheet of the roofing exaggerated in thickness to show .clearly the relation of the constituent parts.

\into the tank, passing under a metallic frame E, which holds it pressed down in the liquid, from whicht emerges toward a pair of roll r ers F. A reel'of paper is'situated between the tank and the table, and as the cloth emerges from the tankit meets the paper and both pass together between the rollers F, which press the two into intimate'contact and secure them together, the cloth uppermost. The compound backing is then fed automatically under a hopper G, containing the gran# nlated slag, which nowialls in a 'stream the whole width of the backing upon the saturated cloth, covering the same to a suitable depth t0 insure a full supply. As the roofing still travels lengthwise of the table, the surplus slagv is brushed away andthe rooting passes between pressure-rolls I-I, which compress.

the'sl'ag deeply into the asphalt. The roofing then continues its course toward the reel, the

web is cut 0E and a chalk-mark made -at a distance of,-say, forty feet from the knife. A new reel is brought forward, the end of the web attached thereto, and the operation continued. As will be seen, the operation of making the roofing is'continuous and automatic. So long as the materialslast the machine will continue to produce roofing ,and its production will be many thousand feet per day.

The asphaltic composition which I employ consists of any good quality of rock asphaltnm dissolved under heat in admixture or combination with crude petroleum or petroleum refuse. To give the compound body, when reqdired, other ingredientsmay be mixed therewith in any desired proportions, such as talc, red oxide of iron, cement, dac.; but the petroleum refuse and the asphaltum are'the only materials really'rquired.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent,

4 l.. As anew article of manufacture, roofing consisting of a backing, sheet, or web coated or. saturated with ansasphaltic composition and surfaced with granulated' refuse from gold, silver, lead, or copper. reduction works,i substantially as described.V

2. As a new article of manufacture, roofing, ctc., consisting of cloth or like material satu rated with asphaltic composition, having a, backing ofpaper and a surface of granulated refuse from gold, copper, slvenor lead reduction works, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of April, 1890. l

. 'GEORGE s. LEE.

'Wtnesses:.

GEORGE E. MATHnws,

E. HUNTER. j 

